Thank you to all the veterans (and their families), to all that gave some and to those that gave all, for your service to our country! And that goes the same to all the first responders nationwide.

Well, we were planning to take Hwy. 80 east through Nevada on our way to Utah. Mother Nature altered that plan, as she usually does. Snow and ice in the Sierras still causing a mess, Hwy. 80 closed for at least a day, the southern desert route became our new path. We got a chance to stop for a couple of days in Paso Robles to see our new granddaughter Hailey again (oh yeah, and parents Chad and Crissy too). The Vines RV Resort was once again our home for a couple of days but this time, the freeway noise was a bit more noticeable throughout the night. Oh well, what do you do when you have limited choices?

OK. So I went with this “Awwwwwwwww” shot. Shoot me…

From Paso Robles it was off to Las Vegas. We took our usual route through the Tehachapi Pass on Hwy. 58 into Barstow where we connected with Hwy. 15 and on to Vegas. We chose a repeat stay at the Main St. Station Casino RV park in North LV, $17 per night not a bad deal for 50A full hookups on level asphalt. Jeanne really wanted hookups for the AC and laundry chores, and the temps were starting to rise making a strong case against boondocking in the area, like at Lake Mead’s Government Wash area. Even though the RV park is just a few blocks from “homeless central” and their dining facility, the casino runs constant security folks on bicycles through the park and in all our stays there we have not encountered any safety concerns in the park.

Welcome to Las Vegas! Sometimes I long for the days pre-1996, back when it was pretty much illegal everywhere.

Our home at Main St. Station Casino RV Park.

Here in North Vegas, this is a common sight. No, he’s not dead. Just a useless pile of flesh passed out on the sidewalk!

Down Main St. toward the homeless dining hall.

The other side of Main St. My heartless SOB side feels this is always a pleasant sight to look at. NOT!

We spent 4 days in Vegas. Being the extremely judgmental, untrusting, uncaring, insensitive, unforgiving, non-politically correct person that I am, and much to the chagrin of my lovely wife, I am going to endeavor to describe the two polar opposite worlds that exist in this area, Las Vegas proper (hereinafter referred to as downtown) and North Las Vegas. Keep in mind, my motto is “Offend everyone, apologize to nobody!” Downtown is a constant traffic jam in and around massive, decadently extravagant architectural behemoths. There are some “interesting” folks walking around, with the occasional homeless type, but nothing to the extent of North Vegas. North Las Vegas lays claim to “Fremont St.” It is like a large indoor mall where you can walk several blocks past shops, bars, casinos, and several stage areas where live bands entertain the masses. In stark contrast to downtown, Fremont St. is jam packed full of derelicts, drunks, tweakers, and freakazoids of all types. Tattoos, body piercings, hair colors & styles only found in an LSD psychedelic flashback, flesh in all manner of dress and undress, and the nearly constant barrage of extremely aggressive beggars is on constant display during the 24 hour “parade of losers” here. (Oh crap, is this the future of America?)???!!!?? An interesting dichotomy, entertaining and disappointing at the same time, to say the least. But the musical entertainment was good. We saw a group called the Tony Marques Band which did some good covers of various rock bands and country groups. And the headliner for this Memorial Day Weekend was at the Outdoor Free Concert series, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Other than the numerous drunken fans, a couple of near-miss fights, and the occasional whiff of green death in the air, Joan Jett put on a great show. I do apologize for the terrible quality of some of the photos here. What can I say, I was having issues!

The Stratosphere tower in downtown Las Vegas

Oh yeah, make America great again!

Cruisin’ through downtown.

The Bellagio

And now, to Fremont St. in North Vegas. Women with pasties…

…and men in thongs…

…or even in diapers. Like I said, all manner of dress and undress.

They have 2 sets of zip lines overhead. With the amount of alcohol consumed in this place, I would think walking below zip liners would be a bit risky.

Looking down Fremont St. in the daytime.

People dress in character all up and down Fremont St. posing for pictures with tourists for tip money.

And some of the characters are pretty far out there!

Terrible photo but you can see some of the future senators and congressmen of the country.

At night they light up the roof over Fremont St. with a little LSD light show.

“I Love Rock & Roll!”

Now begins the serious weather watching. We are aiming for St. George, UT to begin some more Utah exploration and hoping to make it to Arches and Canyonlands NP’s this time, as long as the temps don’t approach scorching. We shall see…

6 Responses to Sin City, Memorial Day Weekend, & Freaks on Parade

Hailey is a cutie. Congratulations!
Las Vegas is not my cup of tea. We went once to celebrate Chelsey’s 21st birthday by staying at the Bellagio and seeing the O show. The show was very entertaining and the hotel was very luxurious. I’m glad I did not venture to north Los Vegas.

My wife had a heart attack when she saw what I was writing about tats, she yelled at me that you specifically would not be happy! It’s not your type of tats I was ranting about, I should have been more specific. It was those who write novels and load up the cartoons on their faces & necks that I was aiming at! And most of those went with the basketball hoops in their ear lobes and all the hardware stuck in their faces! Oops…what do you expect from a broken down retired cop?!? 👮🏻😆👴

LOL,,, it didn’t bother me but it was a good chance to raz you.. Hell some tat’s like you described even bother me. Hey, 80 % of my friends in Gants Pass are either active or retired cops mainly from Ca. so I’m used to the way you old retired cops are LOL!! And let Jeanne know it takes a lot more than that to offend me, my skin is thicker than that.